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​“Where is the line between strategy and manipulation?” asked a dear client. “Doesn’t it make sense to post about a certain topic in advance if I want to sell a course about it? Some bloggers have a whole schedule of content and events leading up to their launch… is that manipulation, or just good strategy?”
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What is strategy anyway?

“Strategy” is a series of planned steps intended to cause a calculated change. When that careful calculation is to influence other people for our own ben…

​You don’t need a funnel for a successful solopreneur business.

Many solopreneurs are being indoctrinated by digital marketers who sell them on the idea that they need a sales/marketing “funnel”.

A typical funnel works like this:

1. You see an Ad (for example on Facebook or Instagram), or receive an email, and it’s about a wonderful “free” thing… free video series, email course, or an intriguing quiz.
   
   
2. You can only get that “free” thing by giving them your email address. This is kn…

​What’s more important than trying to get more clients?

• Getting great clients who love your work
• Maintaining your sense of integrity

…yet neither are accomplished when you use marketing strategies that feel “off” to you.

Although some people will buy when we resort to hype and manipulation, it has consequences: Our integrity is put into doubt — in our buyer’s mind, and in our own.

The best clients will be pushed away.

This is marketing from desperation energy.

Unfortunately…

​When you sign up for an email newsletter, do they try to have you put their emails into your Primary inbox folder… rather than the Promotions or Newsletter folder that it would usually go into?

I’ve been seeing that increasingly among marketers, and I don’t like it.

It’s simply not a good way for anyone to manage their inbox. We should have email newsletters go directly into a separate folder that we look at every now and then… not co-mingled with personal emails from friends, client…

​A few years ago, I stopped marketing to the reptilian brain.

My conscience could no longer tolerate it…

By “lizard brain” I mean the parts within people that are governed by fear, greed, and impatience.

​See the image below that breaks down a real example…

Yes, my sales cycle is a bit longer now. When people find my website randomly, they’re no longer immediately triggered or incentivized to opt-in or to buy from me. It takes them more time to get to know my values, my e…